Review

In this Sony E-Mount 10-18mm f/4 OSS lens (sel1018) review, I will go over everything you need to know using real world photography samples with 100% crops! I will also compare sharpness at the most common apertures, and go over other lens flaws such as fringing, and lens flare. In addition to that, I took several sample video clips to show you how the lens performs under a few real world conditions if that is your primary interest for this lens.

Is the Sony E-Mount 10-18mm f/4 Lens worth the cash??

Read this Sony SEL1018 Lens Review and you will see for yourself if it’s worth making the ultra wide-angle E-mount Lens investment!!

Sony 10-18mm f/4 OSS Lens Breakdown

Overview

The SEL1018 lens is on the more expensive side when it comes to E-Mount lenses retailing for ~$848 US. So where does this cost come from, and more importantly, is it justified??

Well, for starters it features a constant f/4 aperture and an Optical SteadyShot image stabilization system that provides a 4-stop (approximate) shutter speed advantage!!

What really jacks up the cost of this lens is the actually glass elements Sony decided to use. Specifically they went with Super Extra-Low Dispersion Glass, and Three Aspherical Lens Elements! This high quality glass ramps up the production costs of the lens, but will help fight the distortion and other ultra wide-angle lens challenges.

The ultra wide-angle 10-18mm lens is also equal to 15-27mm in the 35mm format when you account for the 1.5x crop factor. The SLE1018 lens takes 62mm lens filters which your going to want for those killer Landscape Photography shots!! It is also incredible light weight coming in at only 8oz (255g).

Specifications

Lens Type

E-mount 10-18mm F4.0 OSS

Lens Mount

Sony E-mount

Lens Construction

8 groups, 10 elements

Focal length (35mm equivalent)

15mm-27mm

Angle of view

109° – 76°

Aperture blade

7 blades (Circular aperture)

Aperture (Max.)

F4.0

Aperture (Min.)

F22

Maximum Magnification

0.1x

Minimum Focusing Distance

9.8″ (0.25m)

Filter Diameter

62mm

Image Stabilization

Optical SteadyShot

Dimensions (Max. Diameter x Length)

2 7/8″ x 2 1/2″ (70 x 63.5mm)

Weight

8oz (225g)

SEL1018 Hands-On and Sample Video!!

I put this HD video overview together so you can get a really close hands on view of the Sony 10-18mm f/f OSS Lens!! I then have some pretty nice video footage for you to check out, taken with the Nex-5r at this really old bridge down the road. You may recognize the green bridge from other reviews in the past 😉

Be sure to select the HD quality in the player options once the video starts for a nice crisp picture!!

This next image I wanted to share was taken in the Goshen, NY, and I absolutely love the composition. It’s a fully edited HDR Photograph made up of three raw file exposures at -3,0,+3 ev’s. I then used Photomatix to blend the exposure’s and Photoshop to enhance the image further.

I have several photos just like the one below taken over the years, but this lens produced the best version I have ever taken to date in my opinion. The image does have some noticeable distortion that I could have corrected in Photoshop, but I chose to leave it for the review purposes and also because I like how it pulls the eye more towards the center. The corner sharpness was very good in the raw files as was the front to back sharpness (depth) for the entire scene. I was using widest focal length of 10mm and an aperture of f/8 for this photo. I used the Bracketing feature on my Nex-6 and hand-held the three frames.

Focal Length Comparison with 100% Crops!!

In this next series of images I went for a high contrast scene with lots of detail. I also shot RAW and the images have NO LENS CORRECTION! These photos were all exported from Lightroom 4 as jpegs @ 60% quality, and 1000px long edge without enlarging.

18mm

Sharpness and Distortion Testing

I used the same scene as the SEL35F18 lens review, as it offered the corner to corner detail, horizontal lines for distortion verification, and some visual interest 😉 The distortion at 10mm is pretty noticeable in this scene and I wanted to remind you that I was shooting RAW quality, so the built in lens profile from Sony is NOT being applied. If I was shooting jpeg, these images would look a lot less distorted looking in other words. The distortion actually looks a lot like the 16-50mm power zoom lens did at 16mm believe it or not.

Sony E-Mount 10-18mm Lens Review – Conclusion

When I starting this Sony E-Mount 10-18mm f/4 OSS Lens review, I was honestly a bit skeptical on the cost of this lens. It seemed a bit on the expensive side when considering the other E-Mount lens prices and features in comparison. Well, my skepticism was wrong needless to say, and the ~848 US price tag is justified in my opinion. Sony put some seriously high quality lens elements inside the sel1018 lens and the results confirm this! An ultra wide-angle lens like the sel1018 has a lot more optical challenges to overcome than a standard lens. It tends to cost more on wide angle lenses than telephoto lenses due to the incredible field of view difference I believe.

In any event, the super extra-low dispersion glass, three aspherical elements, ~4-stop OSS performance, smooth focus and zoom, and a very nice clean design, make this lens a great investment for the Sony Nex camera system.

Would I buy this lens? Yes, if I had the money. I don’t unfortunately and want the much more affordable SEL55210 lens first anyway!! I am also fortunate enough to have the Sigma 10-20mm lens which I can use on my Nex-6 with a cheap lens adapter!!

I hope you all got what you were looking for with my SEL1018 lens review, and questions or comments below are greatly appreciated!!

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52 Comments

Nice review, Jay. I enjoyed the photos you included as well; some great shots! If I was more into landscape photography then this lens would shoot to the top of my most desired lenses as 10 – 18 is great coverage.

Nice review, Jay. Just a tip: for the spinning product shot, how about recording the video and audio separately? Or at least splitting the audio track off, editing THAT, then merging it back with the video. That way the spinning video won’t be so staccato.

I have the Microphone set-up for that exact purpose next review my friend!! I learned a bunch of things in this review cycle Thanks for the tip though. I’m also priming the “Lab” downstairs this weekend so I will have a permanent set-up for the turntable ect.. making things totally professional as they should be. It’s to dusty to go down there lately with all the drywall spackle sanding ect.. You also might of noticed the product shots as of late were not the normal “Lab” type shot either. That is all about to change though 🙂

Cool review, I just want to say thanks for all the work you do on this website. You certainly had an influence when I was making a decision on my new camera recently. (I’ve had my NEX6 for about 6 weeks now, and I love it! Bit of a step up in image quality from my Canon SX20 IS Superzoom.)

I live in the middle of nowhere in the UK, and at some point I’d like to add a nice wide angle lens to my collection for landscape shots (the wide end of my 16-50 isn’t too bad for now). This looks really nice, although I think I’m going to hold off and see what Zeiss do with their 12mm 2.8 before I make any decisions.

Thank you very much!! It’s guys like you that make this website so much fun to work on 🙂 The satisfaction of reading that I actually helped somebody figure something out is very gratifying!!

Wise choice with the Nex-6 😉 The more I use mine, the more I love it!! It really is an awesome camera that has everything needed to get the job done super fast, and image quality is killer. It’s so versatile, you can through on an old school, other camera system gear, ect.. It’s so easy to get creative by forcing yourself to use a old school prime for example. Just leaving the house with one prime lens really forces you to think outside the box. Compositions that never appeared before will suddenly come to light. Seriously Geoff, I’m having the most fun with photography I have ever had with the Nex-6. The only thing that could make it better is a Full Frame sensor which Sony is working on 😉 Nex-9!!

If 12mm is for you, the Zeiss is the way to go most likely. Worth noting when working with such a wide angle, I do find the flexibility of the zoom really nice!! Often zooming with your feet is not an option do to walls, landscape ect..

I will certainly bear that in mind but I’m in no rush at the moment, so I think the wait and see approach on the wide angle is probably my best bet. Whichever one I go for, I’ll be happier knowing I weighed up all my options before I spent that sort of money. 🙂

I picked up the 55-210, and the 30mm Sigma along with the 16-50 and I’m pretty happy with all three. But about two weeks ago I picked up a 50mm 1.4 Minolta MD lens, and it has barely been off my camera since. There is something strangely satisfying about the process of manually focusing my shots. (It’s probably not that strange, I suspect it’s a factor of having the physical mechanism and the hard stops at both ends as opposed to the freely spinning electronic focus rings, I’m also a fan of the distance indicator on the barrel letting me get the focus close before I look at the shot to fine tune it.)

When I get a little spare time I’ll pop on to the forum and see if anyone fancies tearing one or two of my photos apart (in the nicest possible way). 😉

Hi Jay, great read with some good real life pictures for examples. I´m a bit like you in that I´d buy the lens if I had the money (but I don´t) but have the option of using the Siggy 10-20mm or the 16mm and wide-angle converter lens. I´m actually enjoying using the cctv Fujian 35mm f/1.7 on my Nex at the moment. For 25 euros it´s definately worth it. You should check it out. Keep up the good work. Evan

The NEX-system really need some cheaper, fast AND good glass. The Sony E 35mm 1.8 currently available isn’t worth 3x the price of the great DT 1.8 and OSS isn’t really needed for the 35mm focal length in most situations (daylight).

I’m just saying that it would be great if there were some less pricier options for under f2.0 + price under $300 + under or 35mm. Just like the DT SAM 1.8 but for the E-mount. The NEX-series really need it’s GREAT-but-not-expensive lens. The Sigmas are the only alternatives for people that think lenses for $500 or more is a bit expensive.

The lenses have to be completely re-engineered do to the new sensor to flange distance. A totally new optical design is necessary, so re-fitting lenses that are already around is not a cheaper solution, or even an option for Sony.

Re-search and development has to be done, OSS is included, and most if not all the lenses are using ED and Asperical glass elements. That is higher quality glass than you may be aware of, hence the price of the lenses. Sigma figured out a way to make an f/2.8 lens pretty affordable, but faster than that seems to cost more money. I think the 50mm f/1.8 OSS lens, for example,is a great deal at the current price!

This ultra wide-angle is a bit expensive, but again the glass elements used, OSS, and a constant f/4 are a pretty nice package if your in the market. I would love to have it personally!!

I bought the SEL1018 to go on my NEX6 (I also have the Canon 17-40 whicch i use with speedbooster adapter on the NEX 6). Giving both lenses a similar field of view.

The Sony is a tiny bit wider and the Canon adds a bit more length. However teh Canon i s much heavier and also does not have the stablization (something i really like and end up always taking the SEL1018 for travel which is great to get handheld shots in things like markets, temples etc)

I have tested both the lenses for sharpness and they are very similar indeed. Both razor sharp.

That 17-40mm L is killer glass no question, although I haven’t used it in forever it seems like, honestly. The Sony is a lot wider at 10mm than the 17mm Canon though. Huge difference and much harder optical challenge on SOny’s part in my opinion. I would really like toi have this lens in my bag as I said above, but other priorities are just to important at the moment 😉 Like getting the “Lab” done (downstairs).

Killer gallery and thanks for sharing the link!! Please consider sharing some of your work on the forums >>

I really like that Frog image in particular, but so many great images to see 🙂

wondering what you would do in this situation. i am shooting mostly landscape lately and want a wider lens then the sony nex 18-55 kit lens that ive been using for those landscapes. im between the 16mm with the ultra wide adapter and the 10-18. is the 10-18 worth the extra 500 bucks?

any thoughts from this forum would be MUCH appreciated. i am traveling in a couple weeks and would like to make my decision and purchase before i go.
thanks

Yes, it is worth the extra $500 in my opinion. The built in OSS, constant f/4 aperture, and sharp corner to corner to corner performance is all there. It really is a good lens if you have the cash 😉 I wish I did have the cash, and perhaps if I sell my Sigma 10-20mm, this lens would be in my bag someday. Anybody want to buy a Sigma 10-20mm EF Mount Lens??

The Sony Sel1018 is a investment for sure, but the optics are all ultra high quality elements and you have a totally fair price for what you get in the end.

I plan on purchasing the full frame Nex camera when it finally comes out, so this lens would need to be used in the crop factor mode. That is the only so-called downside to making this investment as far as I can tell. The 1.6x crop factor size is really good though, and I can totally live with that if it were to happen. This really is only an issue if you plan on going full frame at some point?? Worst case, you can always sell the lens and get most of your money back.

I hope that helps you in some way or another, and have a great trip!! Be sure to share some pics on the Forum >>

Thanks for the link PR. Shaw and that is indeed great news! Totally missed that. It does not work at the ultra-wide 8mm end though. The sample photo was taken at 13mm I believe, which is still great, don’t get me wrong 😉

Great webite and great review. I bought the 1018 partly because of this review and I must say you are correct in your assessment. I am not as technical so visually judging from the quality of the pictures I am very happy.

I just received the Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 lens, and will be testing it/ reviewing it shortly. As it stands now I would rather have the flexibility of the zoom and OSS of the SEL1018, but once I start using the Zeiss prime, that may very well change 😉 Stay tuned for some sample photos and full review in the next two weeks or so. I just need to finish up the RX1 first!

I recently purchased a NEX-6 kit with the SEL1650. I like to take outdoor landscape photos and some indoor low light of my kids, but mostly outdoors. Would you suggest purchasing a lens in this price range or spending just a little more for the 55210, the Sigma 19, and maybe the 50F18?

Sorry I just want to make a quick point about the SEL55210. It’s a fantastic lens to have. I’ve been using this lens with my NEX 6 for a couple of months now and I love it. I’m highly interested in having the SEL1018 in my camera bag.

I really enjoy your review. I’m currently using my NEX 6 with the SEL24F18Z for everything around and portraits, the SEL55210 for zoom situations but don’t really have a solution for anything less than 24mm. I have a 16mm lens with ultra wide adapter but found myself carry way to may lenses and it is kind of inconvenient. Beside the convenience of being able to zoom, do you recommend this lens over the 16mm+ultra wide adapter combination in term of picture quality?

Thanks for the comments on the review and yes the 10-18mm is much better than the pancake 16mm wide angle prime lens with the wide-angle conversion. The Optics are very sharp almost all the way to the very edge in the corners, and the 10-18mm zoom offers flexibility. I would love to buy one of these lenses if I did not already have my Sigma 10-20mm lens and lens adapter. The ultra wide angle 10mm really opens up compositions that would normally not be present in a single frame. At first it’s almost to wide angle, but the you quickly adjust.

The lenses is a bit large and heavy in comparison to the pancake, and you will notice that, but it’s worth it. The OSS also makes it easy to hand hold in low light situations which I find very useful when on the move. Setting up a tri-pod is often more hassle than it’s worth to me these days.

That is a killer deal for the Zeiss and A6000 and I would consider that for sure if an all in one is what you need. Yes, the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 OSS Lens (sel1670z) is a much better lens than the kit in every way other than size/ weight 😉

If I had to pick one lens for the A6000 it would definitely be the Zeiss 16-70mm zoom lens at this point in time assuming the money was available of course. Otherwise I would go with the kit lens and the 55-210mm till I could afford either the 10-18mm or the Zeiss depending on needs.

The 24mm zeiss is a great prime lens for sure, but it’s not wide enough in my opinion for most of the landscape work I do personally. Not sure about your style though, but sounds like you like the ultra wide look?

The best Landscape lens in my opinion, would be the 10-18mm OSS F/4 lens. The best all around lens would be the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 OSS lens. Best prime lens? the huge Samyang or Rokinon E-mount Cinema primes probably for ultra wide angle.

The ultra wide angle distortion is not liked by some photographers, so depending on your style the 16-70mm might be a better lens for the huge reach advantage. Not all landscape compositions require such a wide angle 😉 It’s always a give and take with lenses Michael..

Thank you so much for your insights. Sorry to make you repeat yourself 😉

Your reviews and analysis are always spot on and much appreciated. I think I’ll start out with the 1670Z and test out the results before adding additional lenses for specific purposes. And I’ll make sure to link through to B&H from this site when I make the purchase.

That sounds like a killer combo of gear if you ask me! So you’re going with the 18-200mm instead of the 18-55mm or 16-50mm kit lens and 55-210mm lenses which would be more affordable. Having the all-in-one convenience is really nice I must admit! I also think the 35mm is a excellent prime lens choice for street photography in particular. If you want more of a portrait prime, then the 50mm f/1.8 OSS lens would be a better choice in my opinion on the A6000. The 10-18mm lens is killer and a must have for landscapes and travel in my opinion 😉

One thing you might want to look into is a 62mm circular Polarizing filter and/or a ND filter for those longer exposure style shots! The polarizing filter can help with glare and even make images appear sharper in certain conditions. Great for water, show cars with lots of chrome, and even haze.

I think you will be off the the races Alex with this set-up and good luck with everything. If you ever need help or have any questions with the camera, photography, Lightroom, or anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask!

That would be an awesome setup 🙂 I’ve got a A6000 with an 18-200LE and in my opinion it is a great all-round lens to have. I just got myself a nice copy of the 10-18 F4 OSS, which was painful for my bank-account 🙂 but i really wanted that lens and the combination is perfect.

I still want the SEL 35 F1.8, it would be great to have such a sharp lens and with 1.8 for some nice bokeh and low light performance.

The nice thing i did not know is that both the 18-200LE and the 10-18 have the same filter dread, a circular polarizing would be great on both.

Honestly I think that would be too heavy to carry every day all of it? Just ones lens and the 35mm in small bag would be nice though. Do you have a small bag? You need both hands the whole time due to small children? I used to carry a backpack of pro gear around, so I know how brutal it can be. Just those three lenses in a small bag would be fine honestly, but I prefer even less if possible. The A6000 w/ selp18105g would be a great all in one for both video and photography, but costs you a bit in size and weight. The 10-18mm is awesome for those killer wide angle shots, but not so good for everything else. The 35mm is great to have for the low light in the attraction type areas, but is limiting.

I hope that helps a little William and I’m trying to give you all the variables I can think of. Some of my thoughts may not apply to your situation though 😉

Anytime William, but I think you may have mis-understood me a bit. The 10-18mm lens is an awesome lens to have and complements the selp18105g lens perfectly. It would add to your collection in a positive way. It’s just a matter of carrying all three lenses at Disney in the parks is all I was referring to in particular. You can certainly get some killer wide-angle shots with the 10-18mm that you would not be able to get with the selp18105g lens. The ultra wide angle is really amazing on the crop factor cameras like the Nex-6 or A6000.

The 20mm is great for the small size and relatively fast aperture, but limiting as a prime. If you shoot 20mm a lot I would say it might be worth looking at more closely.

Maybe I was the one that didn’t explain myself clearly.
Your explanation was helpful and I do understand that your answer was based on WDW.
That is why I decided stick with my original plan.

It was probably my 2nd question about purchasing the SEL1018 and adding it to my collection of e-mount lenses got confusing.
Since I already own the SEL20F28 & UWA converter, would it still be a wise choice to own based on my lens collection?

Sorry William 😉 I keep forgetting you’re dragion on the forum! You should consider using the same name or at least putting the AKA in there, because I’m the worst with names regularly. Keeping track of multiple names for one person is impossible for my brain these days…

I get your question now, and not really honestly. I mean yes the 10-18mm is killer, but the 16mm with wide angle adapter you already have is not bad at all in the “real world”. I’m actually considering picking one up for my 16mm in fact, but have not gotten around to it. The Zeiss touit 12mm would be the ultimate wide angle lens for the e-mount crop factor cameras with the 10-10mm coming in a very strong second place. Don’t forget, if you want to save serious cash and go manual, Rokinon has an awesome 12mm f/2 lens that puts out amazing results (Click Here) Great optics for the money, but fully manual.

With all that said, the 10-18mm would allow you to get rid of the pancake and lens adapter, possible even the 20mm pancake prime? If you got rid of all that, then the 10-18mm would totally justified. In addition to what you currently have it’s certainly not bad, but a lot of redundant focal lengths you will have.

Use Manual Focus (not DMF) and set the a6000/6300/6500 viewfinder’s distance scale at “3m,” then shoot at f/7.1 or f/8 in Aperture Priority mode. You can then forget about focusing. This works well for street photography, landscape, architecture, etc. when you want maximum DoF.

Just don’t touch the focus ring after setting the viewfinder’s distance index to “3m.” You will have to reset it to “3m” if you turn the camera off and back on. Here’s the amazing thing: It works no matter which Focal Length you select, because, even though you’ve set the fly-by-wire distance scale to read “3m,” the actual focus distance changes proportionately with the Focal Length!

You only have to make sure that you don’t include subjects in the frame that are any closer than the Near distances shown, here, for each Focal Length:

Again, note that the hyperfocal distances shown at right, vary with FL, even though the viewfinder’s MF distance scale is set to “3m” in each case!

These DoF figures were calculated for shooting at f/5.6, to secure maximum permissible CoC diameters of 0.0111 mm at the Near and Far limits of DoF – sufficient to support a non-resampled, uncropped image resolution of 360 ppi (equivalent to 5 lp/mm) in an 18x enlargement (11.1 x 16.7-inch print). Similarly, a 180 ppi (2.5 lp/mm) will be supported by this method for 36x enlargements (22.2 x 33.4 inch prints).

I recommend shooting at f/7.1 or f/8, as a hedge, but stopping down further than f/8 will only cause the diameter of diffraction’s Airy disks to exceed the goal of limiting spread functions to 0.0111 mm (5 lp/mm in an 18x enlargement) – and diffraction will soften the entire print, not just subjects that reside at the Near and Far distances of the subject space.

Lastly, the “trick” of leaving the MF distance scale set to “3m,” was discovered while testing my DoF calculations with an a6000 and SE1018 mounted on a tripod, shooting a brick wall, precisely positioned, in turn, at each of the calculated hyperfocal distances, using a Bosch GLM3 laser rangefinder. It quickly became apparent that a viewfinder distance of “3m” was giving me the best visually confirmed focus for each FL’s respective hyperfocal distance,.using the 11.7x Focus Magnifier feature.

A friend has confirmed that the “3m” setting works just as well with the SEL1650 lens, at the 16mm FL (keeping the camera at least 6.8 ft. away from the Nearest subjects in the frame). Apparently, the focus-by-wire distance scale is proportionately consistent from one FL to the next – even across multiple lenses – when it comes to setting and forgetting hyperfocal distances – the main reason why a lot of street photographers hate focus-by-wire lenses, preferring instead to use true MF lenses that have distance scales on their barrels.

You forgot to test it on a full frame camera, I love it on my A7s for Astro Milky Way capture no lens coma (dove stars) equal in cost to both the fixed Rokinon 12mm fish eye and 14mm. And still half the cost of the new SEL1224G and twice as small. There a a lot of new full frame 12mm’s coming out and as far as size and cost for that wide WITH Exif data and no real lens correction needed (use on camera app Lens Correction to rid vignetting and sharper edges)